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The film that started all those Hitler youtube vids!
A very good film IMO, but not exactly a barrel of laughs!
FILM: Downfall
On: Film4 (15)
Date: Friday 4th December 2009 (starting in 31 minutes)
Time: 21:00 to 00:00 (3 hours long)
Oliver Hirschbiegel's Oscar-nominated film is set in Hitler's bunker in the dying days of the war and based on the memoirs of his secretary Traudl Junge. Bruno Ganz portrays the dictator as a man at the end of his tether and beyond reason, railing at those he believes have deserted him, ordering non-existent troops to attack the advancing Allies and throwing untrained teenagers and their grandfathers into battle. Equally chilling is the portrayal of Goebbels and his wife calmly killing their children while an almost maddened Eva Braun literally dances with death. Ganz's performance is superb to the point of unnerving and while there are exterior battle scenes amid the rubble of Berlin, the concentration on the claustrophobic hysteria of the bunker makes for a stunning, gripping film that lingers long in the mind.
(Subtitles, Subtitled, In German with English Subtitles, Widescreen, 2004, 15, 4 Star)
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Starring: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler, Heino Ferch
Yup - brilliant film, if a bit [i]intense[/i].
yup good film, learn quite a bit from it.
hard going though, especially the closing stages.
Very good film, watching it now, cheers!
You can then turn over to Sky Premiere and watch The Baader Meinhof Complex, by the same producers and Bruno Ganz (the actor who played Hitler)
Excellent film - on of the few foreign language films that i didn't even notice wasn't in English! (that might be my predilection for German though).
2 things struck me.
How Frau Junge finally came to terms with her complicity as regards to the Nazi regime.
The actress who played her is a stunningly beautiful young woman!
Watched it last night but the digi box went wrong before the end. Got to the bit where Eva Braun was talking to Frau Junge and gave her a coat.
Thought it was brilliant, what I couldnt figure out is why didnt one of the soldiers/generals shoot him when he was ranting.
Read an article the other day about the mass rape of German women by Russian trops. Berlin was not a fun place to be in 1945. (collosal understatement)
Have it on DVD and never watched it as seen so many parodies now I'm scared they've spoilt it.
Pigface - check out the book [url= http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/3391126/Berlin/Product.html ]Berlin - The Downfall[/url]
I loved the bit where they had the car chase with the topless models and the Xmas elves!!
... only joking!
Enjoyed it very much. Ganz was excellent and for me, the most disturbing bit was the cyanide capsules given to the sleeping young girls!
Not sure whether 'enjoyable' is the right word but certainly a good film (saw it last year). However, watching Magda Goebbels giving her children cyanide (even though I knew what was coming) was no easier the second time around.
The murder of the children is a hard scene to watch - so cold and premeditated.
For me the other bit I find hard is the 2 members of the Hitler Youth killing themselves as Eva Braun's letter is narrated, discussing the necklace she is having repaired.
Schau dir den Film an !! Das ist ein Befehl !!!
Not sure whether 'enjoyable' is the right word
By this, I meant that it was worthwhile watching rather than a waste of time. 8)